The Park Street food map has got a hot — and haute — new F&B address: the popular Pa Pa Ya, owned by Delhi-based restaurateur Zorawar Kalra. Spread over 6,500sq ft on the 11th floor of Magma House, the restaurant is split into two dining zones and wears a chic, industrial look — the interiors are done by Japanese designer Masafumi Sanada — with a lot of natural light streaming in during the day. t2 dropped by for a walk-through and a sampling.
What: Pa Pa Ya
Where: Magma House Level 11 (24 Park Street)
Opens: February 26
Timings: 6pm to midnight. Noon to midnight March 15 onwards
Meal for two: Rs 2,000-plus (without alcohol)
ZONES
The dining section is all about easy seating and clutter-free tables. Wooden partitions, walls, caged lights, beige sofas and chairs lend a warmth to the ambience.
This is a separate dining zone with a dedicated sushi bar that serves up to 40-50 kinds of sushi, occupying a large part of the menu. For Aayush Killa, franchise partner for Pa Pa Ya Calcutta, “the restaurant is the place to be for the best food and alcohol one can imagine.”
This is an eight-seater private dining room with wooden furniture and walls done up with paintings. It’s ideal for an office lunch or meetings over food.
There are several pockets where you can sit back and relax. This lounge, situated right next to the island bar, can seat 20 and has a breathtaking view of the cityscape.
In the evening, moving heads and dimmed lights transform it into a buzzing space.
Every Pa Pa Ya outlet has a highlighted section. If the Select Citywalk in New Delhi has a dome-shaped 70ft bar, the one in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, has a kinetic wall. The USP of the Park Street outlet is the 360-degree view of the city skyline.
FOODGASM
The modern, Pan-Asian menu includes cuisines from Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, involving contemporary techniques and innovations. “We play around with a lot of ideas but the flavours are authentic, we don’t mess with the flavours. The menu here is almost the same as the other Pa Pa Ya outlets,” said chef Sahil Singh, who is heading the kitchen. There’s a wide variety of sushi options and the fish is flown down from Japan each month, which lends an authentic taste. The food is presented tapas style, so you can try out different dishes in one sitting.
Expect the menu to surprise you. We got stumped by this “modern sushi” dish — Salmon and Scallop Firepit, Smoked Ikura that has no rice in it. This one has salmon and salmon roe wrapped in cucumber slice and flambed. Relish the union of juicy cucumber and salmon.
The Sushi Tree is a signature dish and a must try if you want a variety of sushi and sashimi. Served on a wooden branch, the platter comes with two portions of Maguro (tuna), Unagi (roasted eel), Sake (smoked salmon) and Yellowtail accompanied by wasabi and pickled ginger and shredded carrots.
Salmon Uzukuri is love that melts in your mouth. This Japanese-style cut sashimi is rolled and dressed with paper-thin baby radish slices, blackened garlic, sweet jalapeno and garnished with coriander leaf. The coriander and salmon make a hit combo.
Bite-sized dish? Yes. Riot of colours? Yes. Avocado Carpaccio is an Instagram-worthy dish. This vegetarian item made with New Zealand avocado slices marinated with dried kelp and yuzu soy and drizzled with truffle oil explodes once you pop it in your mouth.
A visit to Pa Pa Ya is incomplete without digging into the flambe Chocolate Ball that opens up when molten chocolate and Cointreau are poured on the chocolate ball. #Indulgence
If you love pork and are looking for a small plate, Twice Cooked Pork Belly, Fragrant Chilli will blow your mind. The fat-meat ratio of the pork is perfect. It’s stir-fried with bamboo shoots, bell peppers and a special sauce made with chilli oil and dark soya sauce. The result? Some yum spicy pork.
EYE-CATCHERS
We loved the cool coasters that had captions like ‘Wine doesn’t make you fat, it makes you lean-against walls, chairs and funny people’. The other thing that caught our eye is the how-to-have-a-sushi leaflet that tells you six rules of having sushi.
